Yule Ball
by Poo7667676
Summary: Yep, here I am again with yet another R/Hr romance (sort of). This is set in the Yule Ball of 4th year, and what exactly the two were thinking. Focuses more on Ron. It's PG for some language, whee! Please r/r. :Þ


Yule Ball

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JK Rowling and whoever published it does. J

Okay, so the Severing Charm didn't exactly work as smoothly as I hoped it would. I wish I'd asked Hermione to do the charm for me instead. Oh well, at least I'm lace-free…count your blessings, or something, I guess.

Dean's muttering something about me and Harry getting the most gorgeous girls as dates for the ball. Huh. Least _he's_ got a date he's talked to beforehand. 

"Animal magnetism," I mumbled in reply, absentmindedly yanking on the threads sticking out my cuffs. I wish my mum had bought me robes other than this.

I'd pulled out at least a thousand or so stray strands from my robes by the time we reached the common room. 

I wonder where Hermione is? 

More appropriately, I wonder who she's with at the moment…not me, that's for damn sure. 

Heh heh heh, it's really hilarious how uncomfortable Harry is around girls sometimes—I swear, his attempts at a compliment for Parvati are really amusing. It's getting very hard not to smirk. I should tell Hermione about this later. 

Oy, the entrance hall's bloody _crowded_. 

Looks like Parvati found Padma. They're coming over to us again. Hey, she looks really good, too. Aqua is a good color on her—them—whatever. It'd look good on both of them…it's a given, I mean, they're both twins, so… 

Her gaze is disapproving as they stay on the fraying edges of my robes. 

Now I really, _really_ wish my mum bought me some other robes. 

Or at least Hermione had done the Severing Charm for me—I'm sure she would've done better.

Harry's foot on my foot told me I'm supposed to say something to her. _Okay,_ I tell myself, _Ron…time to dazzle her with your legendary Weasley charm, your amazing wit, your impressive lines, your… _

"Hi," I start, glancing around. "Oh no…" What the hell is Fleur doing so near me? And why isn't Harry blocking her view of me, anyway? I duck behind him. 

_…your amazing stupidity._ I conclude silently as I got back up. 

"Where the bloody hell is Hermione?" 

…oops. Did I say that out loud? I didn't mean to. I know it's rude to talk about another girl in front of your date. 

Uh-oh. Padma looks slightly pissed. Bad way to start the night. 

Now Harry and Parvati are gone, off with the champions and their dates. Davies and Fleur walked past Padma and I—okay, it's more of, Padma gracefully strode, and Davies stumbled in stupor. Hehehe, he looks like a duck. I won't even bother hiding. I've shamed myself enough anyway. 

I tiptoe to see who Krum's date is; maybe it's a pretty girl from Beauxbatons, or maybe one of Krum's lady-stalkers, or maybe even some Gryffindor student. 

Oh. 

My. 

_God_. 

…well, at least I know where Hermione is and who her date is, now. 

Hermione looks _fantastic_. What she did to her hair? It looks great. It isn't all frizzy and stuff, now; it's pulled back in some elegant style thing, and it makes her look more mature than she ever has. 

Her dress robes look really incredible on her, too…a really good change of pace from those heavy black robes she usually wears. 

And, God…that _smile_…she really has a nice smile, 'specially without the buckteeth (no offense to her or anything).

She's waving at Harry and Parvati, and she looks better than she ever has in…well, forever. 

Hey, everyone's starting to move into the Great Hall. I wish Padma would stop jostling me along; it's starting to get irritating. 

The reaction of everyone to Hermione's apparent 'image change', if you would call it that, was impressive, too. Everyone just seemed to find her stunning. Kind of like it was a whole new Hermione. 

Aw, bloody hell, we're nearing her. What do I do? 

Wave? That wouldn't feel right, somehow. 

…she's a couple of feet away… 

Drool all over her like half the younger years are doing? I won't even think about that one. 

…a few steps from us… 

What the hell do I do? Smile…yeah…smiling's good. A nice, complimenting smile to satisfy her. 

She's looking right at me now, maybe even somewhat expectantly. Jeez, she's intimidating when she's like that. I did the first thing I could think of. 

I ignored her. Swished right past with Padma pulling me along, 

I _ignored_ her! Am I just an idiot, or something? Why didn't I just pay her a simple compliment like, "You look good," or "Nice outfit," or something? 

What happened to The Smile? The Smile was a _good_ idea! 

Of all the genius things to do, I don't even acknowledge her. 

I am a huge idiot (big surprise there). 

I have to make sure to hit myself over the head later. 

Does anyone know a spell to conjure an invisible fist?

He ignored me. He _completely_ overlooked me! Whatwasthebloodypointofdressingupifhedoesn'tevennoticeit? 

I could feel my cheeks burning. I knew I was turning an ugly crimson shade. Is that a sign of hyperventilation? Where's my wand? I need it to conjure up a paper bag to breathe in…Krum taps me on my shoulder and whispers in a hushed voice: 

"Ev'rything is fine vith you, Hermyown?" 

_Hermyown_. I had to hold back a giggle before answering. "I'm fine, Krum. Thanks. Just getting a little hot, is all." 

"Ah," Krum nodded. "Ver our school is, it is very cold almost all of our time. You very lucky to haf warmth." 

"I'm sure," I smiled indulgently at him, nodding before turning back to face my classmates walk inside. It was probably five, ten minutes later when Professor McGonagall told us to line up in pairs and follow her inside. 

Wow, the Great Hall's _gorgeous._

Where's Ron? I wish I could look around for him without looking like a weird prat. 

Why's Karkaroff watching us? And what's Percy doing up there—wow, he should be _arrested_ for having an expression as smug as that pasted all over his face. 

Hmm, the food's good. Unfortunately, I can't enjoy it too much. Seeing Krum and Hermione together makes me feel sick. 

Hey, someone's sitting down with us—oh. It's Harry and Parvati. 

Now it's just Harry, Parvati's pranced off somewhere else. 

Hermione's coming over, I hope she doesn't comment on my ignoring her earlier. 

"It's hot, isn't it?" She muttered, moving her hand in a gesture that was supposed to fan her or something. "Viktor's just gone to get some drinks." 

I turned to her, raising one eyebrow. "Viktor? Hasn't he asked you to call him Vicky yet?" 

Hermione looked at me in obvious surprise. 

Oh…did I just say that out loud? Oops. 

Score another one for the Ron Is A Blundering Git board. 

"What's up with you?" she asked cluelessly. 

Uh oh, what do I say to that? 

"If you don't know I'm not going to tell you." Wow, that somehow came out wrong, didn't it? 

The floor could open up and swallow me whole any time now. 

Ron's acting stupid again, and Harry has no idea what's up with him. 

"Ron, what--?" Oh, but of course he interrupts me. 

"He's from Durmstrang!" He muttered in an annoyed tone. "He's competing again Harry! And Hogwarts! You're…" he paused. "_fraternizing with the enemy_." 

What did he just say? I can't believe my own best friend can be such an idiot. 

"Don't be so stupid!" I cried. 

The argument went on, both of us getting more and more pissed and Harry still trying not to get in the middle. 

Anyway, it ended with me walking away with something about V_icky_, as Ron so fondly coins it. 

I'd managed to pull Harry out into the garden. The people at our table in the Great Hall were just too annoying to stand (particularly Percy, if only I knew a spell to shut someone up). We ran into some interesting conversations between Karkaroff and Snape as well as Hagrid and Madame Maxime. 

But now we're back in the Great Hall, and I've just explained to Harry why being a half-giant was bad. 

We spent the rest of the night talking about it, and how dense Madame Maxime exactly was for thinking she could deny her—um, heritage, or something. 

I still can't believe Hermione and I fought (again) over something as stupid as…well, what we fought about. 

Wow, it's late. Every other Durmstrang student's back in the ship except for Krum. I guess I'd better say good night. 

"Tonight I had a very good time, Hermowninny." Krum seemed so proud to be able to pronounce my name right that I didn't have the heart to correct him. 

"I did too, Krum." I smiled somewhat nervously. I hope he doesn't plan to kiss me. "Thank you. Good night." 

"Haf a good night, Hermowninny." He seems to be having a lot of fun saying my name. 

I grinned again before turning around to go up the marble stairs. 

Ron stood there, watching me. Harry was beside him, but he wasn't paying attention to me. 

I met his gaze coldly and stayed quiet before pushing past him and climbing the stairs. 

I semi-screamed the password at the Fat Lady before she opened. I was so irritated at—at—everything that I think I slammed the portrait behind me a little too hard. Everyone in the common room turned to me as I walked in. 

"Sorry," I mumbled, before I sat down on the chair nearest to the entrance and fumed. 

Harry's talking to Cedric now; apparently Mr. Pretty Boy wanted to do it alone. Might as well go on ahead to the common room. 

I closed the Fat Lady's portrait behind me, and found Hermione sitting there, looking about as annoyed as she had when we fought some hours ago. 

"Had a good time tonight?" I sneered as I passed by. I caught her look up out of the corner of my eye. 

"What was _that_ supposed to mean?" she demanded, hurrying after me and yanking on my sleeve to get me to turn around. 

"Nothing," I shrugged her hand off, "I was just wondering if you enjoyed spending time with _Vicky_ tonight." 

"I _did_," she answered, her voice getting slightly louder and attracting quite a bit of attention, "and I also _thought_ I told you that you shouldn't call him Vicky." 

Ooh, she's pissed. Her skin's turning a deep scarlet—looks kinda good on her. 

…where did that thought come from? 

"I don't _care_ if you don't want me to call him that!" I yelled back. Everyone's watching now as though it was some sort of a demented wrestling match. "I don't like him, and I don't care what _he_ thinks!" 

"What about what _I_ think?" she screamed right back, turning even redder. I wonder if my ears are the same color as her cheeks. 

"What about what _I_ think?" I retorted angrily, jabbing a finger in her face. She swatted it off. 

"I don't even _know_ what you're thinking about!" she snarled, her eyes flashing threateningly. "You've been acting so differently tonight…it's like you're a totally different person!" 

"Well, then I'll _tell_ you what I think!" Oops. Do I really want to tell her? 

"Go right ahead!" she cried, crossing her arms. 

"I don't like it when you go out with Krum! I don't like it when you go out with strange guys!" _Of course, every guy is strange except for you…_an annoying little voice mumbled in my head. 

"Viktor is _not_ strange!" 

"Bull_shit_." I yelled. I was getting extremely irritated, and the comment that came from my own head was disturbing. I can't believe I just cursed right in Hermione's face, though…I think that's something I should apologize about later. "Krum can't even pronounce your _name_ right! He…he…he sulks around like a maniac! He goes to Durmstrang, and everyone knows that's not a…a…commendable school!" 

Hermione looked extremely hurt. Right at that point, Harry walked in. We both ignored him. 

"Well, if you don't like it, you know what the solution is, don't you?" Her bun was falling apart, I don't think I've ever seen her so angry. 

It took me a few seconds to answer. "Oh yeah? What's that?" 

"Next there's a ball, ask me before someone else does, and _not_ as a last resort!" 

Whatever I was expecting for an answer, it wasn't what she said. 

…but that's not such a bad idea, asking her out on the next ball…I just hope she's still not too angry at me by then. 

Author's Notes: Please r/r, I did this in the midst of my research, ick. I don't know how it came out, or if it came out right. Thanks to alphabet for pointing out a silly little mistake I happened to make. :) Silly me!


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